Souls Of Mischief – 93 'Til Infinity (The Remixes) 2xLP

Jive (2024)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

I actually picked this up on Record Store Day Black Friday last year, but didn't get around to writing about it until now.  93 'Til Infinity is one of my top five hip hop albums of all time, and most days I'd probably say it's in my top three.  I've been obsessed with it since the very moment I saw the title track on Yo! MTV Raps when it first came out.  

This album is meant as a companion piece, with remixes and a B side from the 12" singles that came out around the album's release.It's great to have these songs in one place, but it also feels like something of a missed opportunity to me.  While there was only one official B side on those early singles, "Good Feeling," this really was the time to finally get a version "Cab Fare" on to a proper release.  I know, I know - sample clearance.  But this was the time to try.  I also think that "Get The Girl, Grab The Money & Run" from the Low Down Dirty Shame soundtrack should have been added.  Two more new songs would have gone a long way.

As far as the remixes go, they are all stellar, but there's not that many.  Only four remixes are here, which is fine, because that's all that was made.  They're definitely worth checking out if you haven't heard them before, giving a completely new flavor to tracks like "Make Your Mind Up," "Never No More," "That's When You Lost" and of course the remix to the song "93 'Til Infinity." 

Let's do some math here.  One B side.  Four Remixes.  Why is this a double LP?  It's because the rest of the album is full of instrumentals.  Five instrumentals and an acapella version of the title track.  I'm not a DJ, so I really don't need these very much.  Are they cool to listen to?  Absolutely.  But it's kind of scattershot with instrumentals of three LP versions and two of the remixes.  If this was a whole album of the LP instrumentals, yeah - sign me up.  But this kind of feels like an unnecessary double LP.  I'm probably more sensitive to it than usual because of the RSD tax making this a pretty pricey record.  I would have been perfectly happy with a single LP that doesn't have any of the instrumentals.  And add in "Cab Fare!"

Souls Of Mischief – 93 'Til Infinity (The Remixes):

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mCSBGVk3AseBaG81kdOUmmLA79TPQAlWg

Lync / Pedro The Lion - Split 7" - Blue Vinyl (/300)

Suicide Squeeze (2024)

This is an odd little release.  It's a split 7" with Lync and Pedro The Lion on each side playing the Lync song "b."  This version is on blue vinyl and was limited to 300 copies.  There's also a purple vinyl version, but I haven't seen that for sale online anywhere, though admittedly, I haven't really looked all that hard as I'm not sure I need another copy of this.  Though the Lync collector in my head often disagrees.

The original Lync version of this is from 1994's These Are Not Fall Colors album.  It's probably my favorite by Lync, which is saying something considering how much I love pretty much all of their songs.  It's the one that grabbed me by the ears in 1994 and never let go, fully establishing that Lync wasn't 'a band with those guys on the Beck album.'  Which was, of course, how I stumbled across them in '94.  I can't ever say enough good things about this song, this album and this band.  Sam Jayne forever.

On the flip is a newly recorded version of this song by Pedro The Lion.  I've never really been a fan, their records have always been a little too slow and sleepy for me.  Their take on "b" doesn't really do anything to change my opinion.  It's a solo acoustic take that is so slow and has such low, deep vocals that I thought I was playing it on the wrong speed.  To call it a melancholy take would be doing a disservice to melancholy things as it's just borderline depressing.  If this means that more folks get to hear the Lync version of the song, then this 7" is a worthwhile endeavor.  But for me, I don't really need a slower, sadder version of one of the great indie rock songs of all time.

Lync / Pedro The Lion - Split 7":
https://lync1994.bandcamp.com/album/b-2